DuBois Park funding stalls

With grant funding up in the air, Bluffton’s plans to add a public restroom and pavilion to DuBois Park could be delayed.

The $285,000 project to add a pavilion with a public restroom and new playground equipment depends on $195,000 in grants to supplement town money put aside in this fiscal year’s budget, and the National Scenic Byways Program denied a request for $155,000. The other $40,000 in grant funding also needs to be identified, said James Ayers, director of engineering.

“Although some portion of the DuBois Park Phase II project may be designed and constructed with currently available funds, implementation of the complete program of improvements would require us to secure other grants or funding streams, which town staff is pursuing,” Ayers said.

The 1.25-acre lot on Boundary Street between Lawrence and Lawton streets was deeded to the town in 1940 under the condition that it remain open for civic use and keep the name DuBois Park. A $146,000 upgrade that included landscaping, lighting and the installation of benches and a rain garden wrapped up in April.

Plans to improve the space date back to Bluffton’s Old Town Master Plan and call for the eventual demolition of the former Old Town library, which is now used by the Society of Bluffton Artists as a teaching space. The group is building an 832-square-foot attachment to its gallery at the corner of Calhoun Street and Church Street to replace the teaching space and add storage space.

Town Manager Anthony Barrett said the second phase of upgrades was scheduled for completion as part of Bluffton’s 2013 capital projects plan, and he expects staff to deliver a report on the funding situation to council in December or January.

“The improvements at DuBois Park are important to the elected officials and the community,” Barrett said. “All options are open to have this project completed within the next 18 months.”

He added that accommodations tax money could be used to meet the shortfall, “should council so direct.”

The best use of accommodations tax money, which comes from lodging bills and goes to fund initiatives that benefit tourism, has been debated in recent months. Council has called for reforms that could include limiting the funding for outside groups to fund the town’s own initiatives and requiring a matching contribution to any grant as officials predict greater competition for the money.

Mayor Lisa Sulka called the project an “important part of our strategic plan” that won’t be forgotten, and she said she thinks regular accommodations tax applicants such as the Old Town Merchant Society will be agreeable to using the money in a way that benefits all.

“I think the a-tax recipients know that we need to provide things like that, and if it’s legal and there’s support, we’ll look at that,” she said. “It also gets the traffic off of Calhoun Street, and if we can get people one block over and that can help whatever businesses are there, that’s great.”

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